From the Principal

Welcome to IPS

It has been quite a year for all of us at IPS. However, we have mostly been resilient and confident. We have had to be independent and persistent. We have all been respectful!

Students, parents and staff have pulled together to do their very best under what were unique conditions and we have learned a great deal. We have learned about teaching, parenting, learning, and exercising patience in all these things and more.

What is missing in this video is all of you. Show it to your children and let them know they have been missed and are welcome back at school.

We are stronger when we work together.

Moving Day

We made the most of three days of lockdown and began setting up the new Year 5 and Year 6 classrooms in The Beehive. Two of the Year 4 classes that had been upstairs in the Waterdale Rd building are now downstairs creating a Year 4 precinct.

Please note: Year 5 and Year 6 students will continue to enter and exit through the front of the school until next week.

Once again it was a pleasure to welcome families back into the school albeit with a few restrictions regarding length of stay onsite and the continued enforcement of mask wearing on school property. Thank you for working with us as it is awkward to have to ask for compliance in this regard. Unfortunately, we are still asking drivers to obey the local bylaws as well as requesting that driveways are not used to reverse into or out of. It's a dangerous practice that will one day result in a child being injured.

IPS Welcome Picnic - Save the date 26th February

Friday 26 February, 5pm-8pm

Note: A COVIDSafe Plan has been developed and we are awaiting approval for the Welcome Picnic with the new date. A copy of the previously approved plan is available on the IPS website. (Only the dates need amending)

Communications

At IPS we pride ourselves on building positive relationships with parents and carers in the best interest of every student. The closer we work together the better the educational outcomes.

Parent Information Evenings

While we still struggle with social distancing and space we have developed a hybrid approach to the Information evening that occurs in Term 1. Before, or on Friday the 19th of February you will receive access to a video and information from your child's year level and access to a tool to record questions you may have. 

You will receive a link to a year level video conference for a more personalised experience. The times for these Information evening link ups are as follows.

If you have missed this information please contact your child's teacher via class dojo.

Meet the Teacher

Meet the teacher will be held Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th of March for parents of students in Grades 1-6 and bookings can be made through COMPASS.

Bookings from Wednesday will begin at 1.40pm. 

Bookings from Thursday will be after school.

This is an opportunity for each individual family to meet with the class teacher to help them to better understand your child. This is also the time to convey any additional information that may assist in helping them settle in and maximise learning opportunities.

Parent Reps

The role of the Parent Representative is to maintain good communication links with our community and to provide support for the classroom teacher. Ideally there is a representative linked with each class. Can you help? Check out the Parent Rep page.

Working Bee - Foundation parents and friends.

We are constantly looking to improve our school. The additional voluntary contribution goes partway in to keeping our school in good shape and being able to provide some improvements. Similarly, grants from the Department help pay for some further   maintenance and cleaning. Fundraising in the past has also helped to purchase extra items to enhance our program.

The school runs one Working Bee a term and we target different participants each term.

The Working Bees are coordinated by Mr. Bull (Year 5) and Mr. McKay (PE). 

The Working Bee begins at 9am and finishes at 12pm. Students are welcome to come and help (and can earn house points). You meet at the old canteen under the flags where there is a sign in sheet and a list of jobs. Tasks include a general tidying of the grounds and removing rubbish etc., cleaning drinking fountains, minor repairs etc.

This Working Bee is for Foundation parents and volunteers from other year levels are welcome. The timetable of Working Bees for the year is below and worth diarising or sticking on your fridge.

Canteen

Welcome back.  The Ivanhoe primary canteen is open and ready to serve all your children .

If you are not already on my school connect you can easily make an account by going into the app and following the prompts . 

Note: If you're unable to click on any of the apps (Tuckshop, Uniform, etc) because they are greyed-out it's likely because you haven't set a class for your student.

From your Dashboard:

- Click on My Students

- Click "edit" on the student you want to set a class for

- Select the class for that student

- Click "save"

You should then be able to place an order. 

For any one who is already connected with my school connect you do need to go in and update the new class for your child before you can order .

It is wonderful to see all the happy faces coming down to say hello and enjoying a refreshing icy pole .

If anyone has any problems please call me on 0413 047 049 

Thank you 

Annette 

Sub Committees of School Council

There are lots of ways in which to support the school and one of those is serving on a sub committee of school council. The sub committees generally meet before a school council meeting. In the coming issues of Inside Ivanhoe there will be more information about each of them and what their function is. Below is a timetable of proposed meeting dates.

Finally

We are very proud of our school. Keeping it safe, attractive and engaging is a big job so if you can help in some small way please do. Children look after things they have respect for. If it's clean, they will do their best to keep it that way too. If it's filthy they won't.

We are stronger when we work together.

Mark Kent

Principal